Welcome!
While we are practicing social distancing to prevent the spread of COVID-19 there is also a need to imagine what worship could look like more creatively. We will have worship on Sunday mornings at 10:00am EST on our Facebook Page.
Below you will find interactive bulletins for our Sunday morning services. Bulletins will include music, prayers, scripture readings, and an audio recording of the sermon. You may choose to worship on your own schedule using the resources provided or use them to follow along in the service on Facebook. If for some reason the Facebook stream stops working you can find the video on Holy Trinity’s YouTube channel.
Licensing
Holy Trinity Lutheran Church is covered under the following licenses:
- CCLI: 1510407
- OneLicense: 732293-A
- Augsburg Fortress: SAS006846
+ On Ash Wednesday we begin our forty-day journey toward Easter with a day of fasting and repentance. Marking our foreheads with dust, we acknowledge that we die and return to the earth. At the same time, the dust traces the life-giving cross indelibly marked on our foreheads at baptism. While we journey through Lent to return to God, we have already been reconciled to God through Christ. We humbly pray for God to make our hearts clean while we rejoice that “now is the day of salvation.” Returning to our baptismal call, we more intentionally bear the fruits of mercy and justice in the world. +
GATHERING HYMN: Praise the One Who Breaks the Darkness (ELW #843 + Verses 1 & 3 )
1 Praise the One who breaks the darkness
with a liberating light;
praise the One who frees the pris’ners,
turning blindness into sight.
Praise the One who preached the gospel,
healing ev’ry dread disease,
calming storms and feeding thousands
with the very bread of peace.
3 Praise the one true love incarnate:
Christ, who suffered in our place;
Jesus died and rose for many
that we may know God by grace.
Let us sing for joy and gladness,
seeing what our God has done.
Praise the one redeeming glory;
praise the One who makes us one.
Text: Rusty Edwards, b. 1955
Text © 1987 Hope Publishing Company, Carol Stream, IL 60188. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
GREETING
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the love of God, and the communion
of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
And also with you.
PRAYER OF THE DAY
Gracious God, out of your love and mercy you breathed into dust the breath of life, creating us to serve you and our neighbors. Call forth our prayers and acts of kindness, and strengthen us to face our mortality with confidence in the mercy of your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
HYMN OF PRAISE: Glorify Thy Name (W&P #42)
Father we love You
we worship and adore You.
Glorify Your name in all the earth.
Glorify Your name.
Glorify Your name.
Glorify Your name in all the earth.
READINGS
Joel 2:1-2, 12-17
+ Because of the coming day of the Lord, the prophet Joel calls the people to a community lament. The repentant community declares that God is gracious and asks God to spare the people lest the nations doubt God’s power to save. +
The first reading comes from Joel beginning at the 2nd chapter.
1Blow the trumpet in Zion;
sound the alarm on my holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,
for the day of the Lord is coming, it is near—
2a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and thick darkness!
Like blackness spread upon the mountains
a great and powerful army comes;
their like has never been from of old,
nor will be again after them
in ages to come.
12Yet even now, says the Lord,
return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
13rend your hearts and not your clothing.
Return to the Lord, your God,
for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love,
and relents from punishing.
14Who knows whether he will not turn and relent,
and leave a blessing behind him,
a grain offering and a drink offering
for the Lord, your God?
15Blow the trumpet in Zion;
sanctify a fast;
call a solemn assembly;
16gather the people.
Sanctify the congregation;
assemble the aged;
gather the children,
even infants at the breast.
Let the bridegroom leave his room,
and the bride her canopy.
17Between the vestibule and the altar
let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep.
Let them say, “Spare your people, O Lord,
and do not make your heritage a mockery,
a byword among the nations.
Why should it be said among the peoples,
‘Where is their God?’ ”
Word of God, Word of Life. Thanks be to God.
Psalm 51:1-17
+ Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love. (Ps. 51:1) +
Together we will read responsively from Psalm 51.
1Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love;
in your great compassion blot out my offenses.
2Wash me through and through from my wickedness,
and cleanse me from my sin.
3For I know my offenses,
and my sin is ever before me.
4Against you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight;
so you are justified when you speak and right in your judgment. R
5Indeed, I was born steeped in wickedness,
a sinner from my mother’s womb.
6Indeed, you delight in truth deep within me,
and would have me know wisdom deep within.
7Remove my sins with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be purer than snow.
8Let me hear joy and gladness;
that the body you have broken may rejoice.
9Hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all my wickedness.
10Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.
11Cast me not away from your presence,
and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
12Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and sustain me with your bountiful Spirit.
13Let me teach your ways to offenders,
and sinners shall be restored to you.
14Rescue me from bloodshed, O God of my salvation,
and my tongue shall sing of your righteousness.
15O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth shall proclaim your praise.
16For you take no delight in sacrifice, or I would give it.
You are not pleased with burnt offering.
17The sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit;
a troubled and broken heart, O God, you will not despise.
CHILDREN’S MESSAGE
For the Children’s message this week we invite you to check out back episodes of Morning Watch by Pastor Matt and Pastor Jesse, who are good friends of mine and ELCA pastors in Greensboro, NC. Each week day they engage children and adults alike with scripture, music, and prayer. A link to their videos is linked in the interactive bulletin found at holytrinitybellerose.wordpress.com.
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSONS
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
+ In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus commends almsgiving, prayer, and fasting, but emphasizes that spiritual devotion must not be done for show. +
The Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew, the 6th chapter. Glory to you, O Lord.
[Jesus said to the disciples:] 1“Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.
2“So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 3But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
5“And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 6But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
16“And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 17But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
19“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; 20but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, O Christ.
BLESSING THE DUST
(Read responsively)
All those days you felt like dust, like dirt,
as if all you had to do was turn your face toward the wind
and be scattered to the four corners
or swept away by the smallest breath as insubstantial–
did you not know what the Holy One can do with dust? This is the day we freely say we are scorched.
This is the hour we are marked by what has made it through the burning.
This is the moment we ask for the blessing that lives within the ancient ashes,
that makes its home inside the soil of this sacred earth.
So let us be marked not for sorrow.
And let us be marked not for shame.
Let us be marked not for false humility
or for thinking we are less than we are
but for claiming what God can do
within the dust, within the dirt,
within the stuff of which the world is made
and the stars that blaze in our bones
and the galaxies that spiral inside the smudge we bear.
(Jan Richardson from Circle of Grace: A Book of Blessings for the Seasons)
HYMN OF THE DAY: Be Thou My Vision (ELW #793 + Verses 1 & 2 )
1 Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;
naught be all else to me, save that thou art:
thou my best thought both by day and by night,
waking or sleeping, thy presence my light.
2 Be thou my wisdom, and thou my true word;
I ever with thee and thou with me, Lord.
Thou my soul’s shelter, and thou my high tow’r,
raise thou me heav’nward, O Pow’r of my pow’r.
Text: Irish, 8th cent.; vers. Eleanor H. Hull, 1860-1935, alt.; tr. Mary E. Byrne, 1880-1931
INVITATION TO LENTEN DISCIPLINE
Friends in Christ, today with the whole church we enter the time of remembering Jesus’ passover from death to life, and our life in Christ is renewed.
We begin this holy season by acknowledging our need for repentance and for God’s mercy. We are created to experience joy in communion with God, to love one another, and to live in harmony with creation. But our sinful rebellion separates us from, our neighbors, and creation, so that we do not enjoy the life our creator intended.
As disciples of Jesus, we are called to a discipline that contends against evil and resists whatever leads us away from love of God and neighbor. I invite you, therefore, to the discipline of Lent–self-examination and repentance, prayer and fasting, sacrificial giving and works of love–strengthened by the gifts of word and sacrament. Let us continue our journey through these forty days to the great Three Days of Jesus’ death and resurrection.
CONFESSION & FORGIVENESS
With sorrow and remorse, we confess our sins before God and one another.
+ Pause for silence and reflection. +
Merciful God, The burden of our sin is heavy, and we grow weary of carrying it. Yet you have promised to bear its weight for us. Forgive us as we reflect upon the things we have said and done that have caused harm. Forgive our apathy and our idleness. Forgive our selfishness and our uneasy willingness to hurt others who stand in our way. Look upon our sin, but see past it. See in our hearts our desire to walk in your ways. Amen.
Our gracious God is faithful and filled with grace. Even as ash marks us sinners, we are also marked with the cross of Christ. In Jesus our sins are forgiven, once and for all. Walk in new life in Christ, having been made whole by his blood. Amen.
IMPOSITION OF ASHES
The Imposition of Ashes is offered for all those who desire to receive this sign of mortality, repentance, and renewal. At this time families are invited to take their ashes and make the sign of the ☩on one another’s foreheads, or on your own saying the prayer below:
Almighty God, you have created is out of the dust of the earth. May these ashes be a sign of our mortality and penitence, reminding us that only by the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ are we given eternal life; through Jesus Christ, our Savior & Lord. Amen.
Remember that you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.
Accomplish in us, O God, the work of your salvation,
That we may show forth your glory in the world.
By the cross and passion of your Son, our Savior,
Bring us with all your saints to the joy of his resurrection.
Almighty God have mercy on us all, forgive us our sins through our Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen us in all. Keep us in eternal life. Amen
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
Relying on the promises of God, we pray boldly for the church, the world, and all in need.
+ A brief silence. +
O God, you call your church to be ministers of reconciliation throughout the world. Inspire your church in its proclamation of the gospel and guide its ministries to build up the body of Christ. Lord, in your mercy, receive our prayer.
O God, you created the earth and all its inhabitants and you declared that it is good. Protect mountains and valleys, animals and plants, and direct us to be good stewards of all you have made. Lord, in your mercy, receive our prayer.
O God, you desire peace. Direct governments and leaders to work for the well-being of all people and raise up advocates to speak and serve on behalf of the downtrodden. Lord, in your mercy, receive our prayer.
O God, you are our hope in the midst of despair, our help in the midst of sorrow, and our consolation in the midst of affliction. Grant comfort to all who suffer in body, mind, or spirit especially Florence Buckley, Karen McKenzie, Dylan Pearce, Roger Tanner, Barney Gallagher, Mary Kilafofski, Artie Kellerman and Madeline Kellerman, and Terri Evans and support caregivers who attend to all in need. Lord in your mercy, receive our prayer.
Come to our aid as the Coronavirus spreads globally, heal those who are sick, support and protect their families from being infected. Lord, in your mercy,
receive our prayer.
O God, you are love, and you call us to love one another. Accompany with your grace those journeying toward baptism and call us all to repentance as we prepare to celebrate Christ’s death and resurrection. Lord, in your mercy,
receive our prayer.
For all who experience racism as part of their daily realities, those who feel fear for their own safety and that of those whom they love. We pray for all who are not treated with the respect they deserve, for we are all your children, created in your image. We pray for those who are scared and angry that they’re fighting a seemingly endless battle for safety. We pray for the families and friends of those who have been lost. We pray for wisdom and safety for public officials and law enforcement. We pray that no more harm come to our communities by anyone for any reason. We pray for peace, and we long for a future where the dignity of all God’s children is respected and upheld. Lord, in your mercy, receive our prayer.
O God, you are our life and our salvation. We give you thanks for the righteous who have died in faith. Inspire us by their example to proclaim your steadfast love. Lord, in your mercy, receive our prayer.
We entrust ourselves and all our prayers to you, O faithful God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
SHARING OF CHRIST’S PEACE
The peace of Christ be with you always!
And also with you!
Let us share Christ’s peace with one another.
SHARING OUR GIFTS
In this season of generosity, we invite you to consider the ways you have experienced being the church in this new and creative time of our life together. Holy Trinity is grateful for the generosity you have already shown so that we can continue our ministry in Bellerose and beyond. If you would like to support this ministry you can do so by writing a check and dropping it in the mail to us or by donating online through our Tithely, and on our website at www.HolyTrinityBellerose.org. We will use it to generously offer the word of God to all people and serve our neighbors in need.
OFFERING PRAYER
Faithful God,
you walk beside us in desert places,
and you meet us in our hunger with bread from heaven.
Accompany us in this meal,
that we may pass over from death to life
with Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
OFFERING HYMN: Give Thanks (W&P #41 + Verses 1)
Give thanks with a grateful heart,
give thanks to the Holy One,
give thanks because he’s given Jesus Christ, his Son.
Give thanks with a grateful heart,
give thanks to the Holy One,
give thanks because he’s given Jesus Christ, his Son.
PREFACE
It is indeed right, our duty and our joy, that we should at all times and in all places give thanks and praise to you, almighty and merciful God, through our Savior Jesus Christ. You call your people to cleanse their hearts and prepare with joy for the paschal feast, that, renewed in the gift of baptism, we may come to the fullness of your grace. And so, with all the choirs of angels, with the church on earth and the hosts of heaven, we praise your name and join their unending hymn:
HOLY, HOLY, HOLY
Holy, holy, holy Lord,
God of power and might.
Heaven and earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is he who comes
in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest.
EUCHARISTIC PRAYER
O God triune, how majestic is your name in all the earth.
Over the eons your merciful might evolved our home, a fragile tree of life.
Here by your wisdom are both life and death, growth and decay,
the nest and the hunt, sunshine and storm.
Sustained by these wonders, we creatures of dust join in the ancient song:
The earth is full of your glory:
The earth is full of your glory.
O God triune, you took on our flesh in Jesus our healer.
In Christ you bring life from death;
we remember his cross, we laud his resurrection.
Broken like bread, he enlivens our body.
Outpoured like wine, he fills the earth with goodness.
Receiving this mystery, we mortals sing our song:
The earth is full of your glory:
The earth is full of your glory.
We praise you for the heart of Jesus,
so filled with your love for this earth. On the night before he died, he took bread, and gave thanks, broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying:
Take and eat; this is my body, given for you.
Do this for the remembrance of me.
Again, after supper, he took the cup, gave thanks,
and gave it for all to drink, saying:
This cup is the new covenant in my blood, shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness of sin. Do this for the remembrance of me. Gathered around this table, we your children unite in this song: The earth is full of your glory: The earth is full of your glory.
O God triune, you create the worlds, you uphold the living, you embrace the dead.
Send forth your Spirit and renew the face of the earth.
Strengthen us for our journey with this meal, the body and blood of Christ.
Give us a future that trusts in you and cares for your earth.
Empowered by your promises, we rise from our deaths to praise you again: The earth is full of your glory:
The earth is full of your glory.
Amen, and amen.
Amen, and amen.
Copyright © 2017 Augsburg Fortress. All rights reserved.
Reproduced by permission.
LORD’S PRAYER
Lord, remember us in your kingdom and teach us to pray:
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
forever and ever. Amen
INVITATION TO COMMUNION
Families are invited to commune at this time in their homes.
God’s love is poured out in Christ for you.
Open yourselves to receive it.
TABLE BLESSING
May the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen you and keep you in his grace. Amen.
POST COMMUNION PRAYER
God of steadfast love,
at this table you gather your people
into one body for the sake of the world.
Send us in the power of your Spirit,
that our lives bear witness to the love that has made us new
in Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
CLOSING LITANY
The End is God’s. The Beginning is God’s.
The Storm is God’s. The Peace is God’s.
The Depths are God’s. The Heights are God’s.
The Dark is God’s. The Light is God’s.
For all times, all things and all, all belong to God.
Travel with God to the end from the beginning.
Walk with the Lord of your salvation.
Continue with God during the storm as well as the peace.
Walk with the God of your deliverance.
Journey with God through the depths and the heights.
Walk with the Lord of your restoration.
Tarry with God in the dark and the light.
Walk with the Lord of your assurance;
For all times, all things and all, all belong to God. Amen.
“Copyright © 1999 Lisa Frenz. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission.”
BLESSING
You are what God made you to be:
created in Christ Jesus for good works,
chosen as holy and beloved,
freed to serve your neighbor.
God bless you ☩ that you may be a blessing,
in the name of the holy and life-giving Trinity.
Amen.
SENDING HYMN: Bless Now, O God, the Journey (ELW #326 + Verses 1 & 2)
1 Bless now, O God, the journey
that all your people make,
the path through noise and silence,
the way of give and take.
The trail is found in desert
and winds the mountain round,
then leads beside still waters,
the road where faith is found.
2 Bless sojourners and pilgrims
who share this winding way;
your hope burns through the terrors,
your love sustains the day.
We yearn for holy freedom
while often we are bound;
together we are seeking
the road where faith is found.
Text: Sylvia G. Dunstan, 1955-1993
Text © 1991 GIA Publications, Inc., 7404 S. Mason Ave., Chicago, IL 60638. http://www.giamusic.com. 800.442.3358. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
DISMISSAL
Marked with the cross of Christ,
go forth to love and serve the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
ASH WEDNESDAY
In Biblical times, ashes were a sign of sorrow, mourning, and repentance.
Why do we need to be sorrowful and repent? Because as the words of this popular children’s rhyme reminds us: we all fall down.
No matter how hard we try, we all fail and fall into sin. We don’t deserve the grace and mercy that God gives us; yet we receive it thanks to the pain and suffering that Jesus bore for us on the cross.
The cross where we see our Savior’s forgiving love put in action. This is why on Ash Wednesday, we confess our sinful ways and receive the ashen cross on our foreheads; a visible sign of our repentance; a visible sign of Christ’s redeeming work for us on the cross. Thank you for joining us to receive the joyful Good News that our sins are forgiven.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
CONFIRMATION
March 7th at 11:30am via Zoom. See email from Pastor Analyse for the week’s Zoom Link, class materials, and reminders about sermon notes!
ASH WEDNESDAY
- We hope you will join us for worship on Ash Wednesday. The service will be available to stream at Noon on our Facebook page and will be live-streamed on Facebook and Via Zoom at 8:00pm. Click here for the login to the Zoom Call.
- Ash Wednesday Worship Materials will be available for pickup in the blue bin outside the red office doors beginning today. In the bin are devotionals for families and adults, bulletins, ashes, and communion elements. If you would like for devotional materials to be mailed to you please call the office on Tuesday or Friday morning.
THRIVENT DOLLARS
Thrivent members are reminded to direct their Thrivent Choice Dollars to Holy Trinity before they expire. Please call Ruth at the church office on Tuesday or Friday morning if you need help.
COFFEE HOUR
11:00am via Zoom. Contact Carol Robinson for additional information. It’s an opportunity to stay in touch with fellow Members.
COUNCIL MEETING
March 9th meeting via ZOOM @ 7:30 pm
WORSHIP BULLETINS
Worship bulletins are available on Tuesdays for the following Sunday and may be found outside the red doors at the entry door for the office.
CELL PHONE DONATIONS
Holy Trinity is in need of a few more spare smartphones for Worship live streaming. If you have a spare iPhone or Android phones that you would be willing to donate please contact the church office, Ruth, Pastor Analyse, or Carol R. to make arrangements to drop them off. We can wipe the memory from the phone for you and it will be used to record video and audio. Thank you to those who have already donated. We really appreciate it.
NEW PARAMENTS
We are in the process of buying some much needed paraments for the altar. We welcome any gifts to purchase them as they are quite expensive.
WOMEN’S GROUP
February 17 via ZOOM @ 7:00 pm a discussion of the book “The Takeaway Men”
With the cloud of the Holocaust still looming over them, twin sisters Bronka and Johanna Lubinski and their parents arrive in the US from a Displaced Persons Camp. In the years after World War II, they experience the difficulties of adjusting to American culture as well as the burgeoning fear of the Cold War. Years later, the discovery of a former Nazi hiding in their community brings the Holocaust out of the shadows. As the girls get older, they start to wonder about their parents’ pasts, and they begin to demand answers. But it soon becomes clear that those memories will be more difficult and painful to uncover than they could have anticipated. Poignant and haunting, The Takeaway Men explores the impact of immigration, identity, prejudice, secrets, and lies on parents and children in mid-twentieth-century America.
COVID VACCINE
As of January 11 we are in Phase 1B of COVID Vaccination, which includes all individuals age 65 or over in addition to certain professions. To see if you qualify, find the location for your vaccination, and to make an appointment visit nyc.gov/vaccinefinder or you can call 1-877-VAX-4NYC (1-877-829-4692) NOTE: When you make an appointment you must fill out the form at https://forms.ny.gov/s3/vaccine.
If you need to find a COVID test, locations are updated by zip code weekly at nyc.gov/covidtest or by calling 1-212-COVID19 (1-212-268-4319).
Holy Trinity is happy to help you with this process. Please contact Pastor Analyse at pastoranalyse@holytrinitybellerose.org or 516-400-2438.
Other announcements are located in the downloadable bulletin at the top of this webpage.
Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Bellerose 